Israel has launched airstrikes on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas's initiation of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Jewish state. The group governing the beleaguered enclave claims to have fired thousands of rockets at Israel, resulting in multiple casualties and compelling Israel to declare a "state of war."
In recent years, the term "storming" has been increasingly used by Palestinian media, leaders and activists, to describe the visits of Jews to the Temple Mount, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located as well as Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs, which is a facility that contains both a Mosque and a Synagogue. While this term may be convenient for generating attention and creating sensational headlines, it is a deeply problematic description that engenders numerous issues, both in terms of accuracy and the potential for incitement against Jews in Israel by Palestinians, the latter of which is the intended result.
As tens of thousands of Armenian separatists flee Nagorno-Karabakh to the safety of Armenian territories, concerns about potential ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan loom large. In recent days, the Azerbaijani military launched a blitz operation that wrested control of the disputed territory. Against this backdrop, Israel and Azerbaijan are deepening their ties, driven by their successful security and financial partnerships.
As normalization agreements progress between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the promise of peace permeates both nations, certain details and agreements between the two countries remain unresolved. Chief among these is the question of what benefits the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its citizens can expect in light of what many perceive as Saudi Arabia distancing itself from the Palestinian cause. Although Bin Salman has made it clear, during his recent Fox News interview, that Palestinian statehood is not currently on the table, perhaps the Saudi Kingdom needs to convey a more assertive message, something along the lines of 'what have you done for us lately?'
The events that unfolded in Tel Aviv on Yom Kippur were deeply troubling and, for me, proof that the anti-judicial reform protesters have an agenda far more nefarious than blocking legislation with which they do not agree. For generations, Jews have put aside their sociopolitical viewpoints on this most sacred of days. Regardless of their level of observance—be it fasting and spending the day in prayer or otherwise—there was a communal understanding that the day itself was inviolable. The idea of disrupting the two most revered prayers in Judaism, 'Kol Nidre' and 'Neila,' was inconceivable. This year was different. Emboldened by nearly 40 weeks of anti-government demonstrations—partially instigated by controversial personalities like former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, whose inexplicably affluent lifestyle and associations with the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein raise eyebrows—the protesters chose to disrupt what is both the most sacred day on the Jewish calendar and one of the happiest days of the year in the modern State of Israel.